Themis Bioscience, an Austrian biopharma company, has raised €40 million in a Series D financing round backed by a US/EU Consortium to advance its MV-CHIK Chikungunya vaccine into a phase 3 clinical trial program.

The funding round of the Austrian pharma company was co-led by new investors – Farallon Capital and Hadean Ventures. Pharma giant MSD and Adjuvant Capital, and also existing investors Global Health Investment Fund, aws Gruenderfonds, Wellington Partners Life Sciences, Omnes Capital, Ventech also took part in the Series D round.

Themis Bioscience said that the proceeds from the Series D funding round will be used for fast-tracking its phase 3 clinical trial program for its MV-CHIK Chikungunya vaccine and also to help further expansion into oncology indications using its measles vaccine vector platform.

Erich Tauber – CEO of Themis Bioscience said: “The commitment from our new investors Farallon Capital, Adjuvant Capital and Hadean Ventures as well as MSD is a validation of Themis’ achievements and the potential of our platform. This round enables us to continue implementing our strategy to develop novel vaccines and therapeutic candidates for numerous infectious diseases and oncology indications.

“The capital will primarily facilitate the progress of our lead vaccine candidate for Chikungunya towards the market as well as fund the further development of our oncology franchise.”

Austrian biopharma company Themis Bioscience gears up to advance its MV-CHIK Chikungunya vaccine into phase 3 clinical development

Concurrent with the financing round for the Chikungunya vaccine development, Dr. Walter Stockinger – Managing Partner at Hadean Ventures will join the supervisory board of the Austrian biopharma company.

Walter Stockinger said: “We are excited about joining a world-class syndicate to support the development of a vaccine that will prevent a devastating disease in millions of people.

“Clearly, the uniqueness of the platform technology as well as the quality of the management were major criteria for our investment decision. We are looking forward to working with Erich and his colleagues towards achieving approval of the Chikungunya vaccine in the shortest possible time.”

The MV-CHIK Chikungunya vaccine is ready to move into phase 3 clinical trial, which is expected to be initiated in the next few months, said Themis Bioscience.

The other vaccine programs of the Austrian biopharma company are for Zika and Lassa Fever, which are presently being evaluated in phase 1 clinical trials, and for Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV), Cytomegalovirus (CMV), Cytomegalovirus (CMV), Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), and Norovirus, which are in pre-clinical studies.

Recently, Themis Bioscience, entered into a collaboration with MSD to develop unnamed vaccine candidates. In 2018, the Austrian biopharma company initiated its immuno-oncology portfolio of which the first therapeutic candidate is due to enter into clinical trials this year.

For more news and updates on Themis Bioscience, its MV-CHIK Chikungunya vaccine, and all other pharma industry news, keep following Pharma News Daily.